With Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon meeting US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns in Washington, DC, on Monday, and US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia Richard Boucher holding talks with the officials of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, both the US and India are engaged in discussions to garner support from the NSG countries to get a “clean exemption” for the nuclear deal.

“The US and India stand shoulder to shoulder in their desire for a clean exemption and we will continue to work with our Indian partners to persuade the NSG countries that such an exemption is in the international community’s best interest,” US Ambassador to India David C Mulford said in a statement in New Delhi.

The envoy emphasised the US’s “commitment to working with India to rapidly complete the remaining steps necessary to conclude the US-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative”.

“Ahead of the scheduled NSG plenary on September 4, the US and India will continue our vigorous joint advocacy for the initiative at the highest levels of NSG governments,” Mulford said.

Mulford’s assurance comes at a time when the deal enters its “last but one” leg of approvals, and after the two-day meeting of the 45-member NSG group, held in Vienna on August 21 and 22, ended without reaching any decision.

Principal opposition at the NSG came from Ireland, Austria and Switzerland, who have demanded changes in the draft of the waiver to include their concerns about testing, periodic review of India’s compliance and restricting export of sensitive enrichment and reprocessing technologies.

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